Bank of Valletta employees will start benefiting from the Staff and Organisation Support Programme offered by Richmond Foundation following an agreement signed between the bank and the foundation.

The agreement was signed by Noel Scerri, Executive Head, Human Resources on behalf of Bank of Valletta and Doris Gauci, Chief Executive Officer of Richmond Foundation.

“We are keen to set this programme rolling, because it will enable us, as employers, to continue to support our employees to deal with issues before they escalate and become problems,” said Mr. Scerri.

Following this agreement, group sessions will be held and information about stress will be provided in order to educate the workforce about identifying different sources of stress. Such sessions are also aimed at making employees aware of the effects of stress on one’s physical and mental health, the bank said.

BOV employees will also be able to access one-to-one counselling sessions when they would be experiencing stress be it in their personal and/or work life. The counselling sessions are provided by qualified and experienced practitioners.

Ms Gauci explained, “This programme is designed to promote mental well-being at the work place. It helps to identify sources of stress within the organisation, whilst it promotes best practices to prevent stress throughout the organisation and amongst individual employees. This programme will equip the employees with the skills to combat stress. It will also provide individual support in a confidential manner.”